Creative visualization is the cognitive process of purposefully generating visual mental imagery, with eyes open or closed,[1][2] simulating or recreating visual perception,[3][4] in order to maintain, inspect, and transform those images,[5] consequently modifying their associated emotions or feelings,[6][7][8] with intent to experience a subsequent beneficial physiological, psychological, or social effect, such as expediting the healing of wounds to the body,[9] minimizing physical pain,[10] alleviating psychological pain including anxiety, sadness, and low mood,[11] improving self-esteem or self-confidence,[12] and enhancing the capacity to cope when interacting with others.
[15] In this discussion, Cicero said that allusions to "the Syrtis of his patrimony" and "the Charybdis of his possessions" involved similes that were "too far-fetched"; and he advised the orator to, instead, just speak of "the rock" and "the gulf" (respectively) — on the grounds that, "The eyes of the mind are more easily directed to those objects which we have seen, than to those which we have only heard.
In guided imagery, a trained practitioner or teacher helps a participant or patient to evoke and generate mental images[27] that simulate or re-create the sensory perception[28] of sights,[29][30] sounds,[31] tastes,[32] smells,[33] movements,[34] and touch,[35] as well as imaginative or mental content that the participating subject experiences as defying conventional sensory categories.
[42][43][44] The therapeutic application of creative visualization aims to educate the patient in altering mental imagery, which in turn contributes to emotional change.
[54] Stage 4 is image transformation, in which the participant transforms, modifies, or alters the content of generated mental imagery, into substitute images that provoke negative feelings, indicate suffering, and exacerbate psychological pain—or that reaffirm disability or debilitation for those that elicit positive emotion, and are suggestive of autonomy, ability to cope, and an increased degree of mental aptitude and physical ability.
[60][61] Individuals with ADHD often exhibit a greater creative potential, and an increased ability to produce and visualize unique verbal and nonverbal ideas.
As a result, while affected individuals are able to visualize more creative and original abstractions,[65] they fall short on creating and finalizing ideas when given specific criteria.